SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Every day, migrants attempt to cross the border from Mexico to the US, often ill-prepared for the trek of tens of miles through the unrelenting desert and treacherous terrain. It is a dangerous journey — people die of thirst, become physically exhausted, or get lost or trapped. With no one to help them, hundreds die each year looking for a better life.
Desert Angel is a compelling documentary about Rafael Larraenza, a man who, for decades, has risked his own life to save the lives of migrants in crisis. Larraenza himself made the journey for three days through the desert when he was a teenager before eventually obtaining legal status, a family, and a good job. But in 1997, he saw a woman crying on TV, whose husband was lost trying to cross into the US through the desert. Frustrated that no one was there to help, Larraenza started his own search party with two other men and found the lost man alive after a day of searching. After that, he searched for other people in need on the weekends or during his days off. It got to the point where he could not turn down people in crisis, and he ended up losing his job and his first marriage.
Larraenza made it his full-time mission to search for those near death, setting up a hotline where concerned family members (or the migrants themselves) could call. He eventually remarried, and his new wife and other volunteers helped him, though they were always under-resourced.
“…a man who, for decades, has risked his own life to save the lives of migrants in crisis.”
After reading an article about Larraenza, documentarian Vincent DeLuca eventually convinced Larraenza to let him put it on video. Desert Angel tells this story through interviews with Larraenza and those who have requested his help, news clips, phone and video recordings, and, most importantly, by documenting some of the search and rescue missions with a camera crew. The footage is at times shaky, and it is rarely artistic, but it manages to capture some of the desperation, desolation, and isolation faced by Larraenza and those he’s trying to help. DeLuca and crew achieved the admirable feat of hauling gear, water, and supplies through remote regions of the desert that can only be accessed on foot to help tell this story and draw attention to this crisis.
The interviews with Larraenza himself are perhaps the most captivating part of Desert Angel, as they reveal his personal sacrifices and what drives him to give up a life of comfort to dedicate himself to helping others, sometimes at great cost. Over the years, this life has taken its toll — Larraenza can barely walk and is in need of a double hip replacement. Still, his obsession will not let him quit. There is something fascinating about those well outside of the norms of human behavior, especially when it comes to sacrifice and compassion.
Through it all, this is a portrait of something deep and incredible in the human spirit. At a time when migrants are so reviled and cast aside by many in the US, this is exactly the kind of message we need.
After winning a Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival and a special mention at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Desert Angel played at the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where Rafael Larraenza and the film received a standing ovation.
"…about Rafael Larraenza, a man who for decades has risked his own life to save the lives of migrants in crisis. "
